Telephone call fee payment certificate number sales system and device

ABSTRACT

A mobile telephone call fee pre-payment registration system and device capable of registering telephone call permission without requiring a complicated input operation causing erroneous input. A telephone call fee pre-payment registration device ( 20 ) performs money deposit processing for recognizing amount information (money deposit information) relating to money introduced into a money deposit processing section by a user, and performs control for obtaining identification information from the mobile telephone terminal ( 10 ) via a first communications unit ( 23 ), and sending the identification information thus obtained and the money deposit information processed by the money deposit processing unit, to a registration center device ( 40 ) via a second communications unit ( 24 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales system and device for selling telephone callfee payment certificate numbers certifying that a telephone call fee fora pre-paid system mobile telephone terminal has been paid, and moreparticularly, to a system and a device for selling telephone call feepayment certificate numbers to mobile telephone terminals viacommunications means, by receiving payment of a pre-paid telephone callfee from a user carrying a mobile telephone terminal.

BACKGROUND ART

In order to prevent failure to pay telephone call fees by a foreigntraveler residing in the country for a short period of time, or in orderto popularize use amongst children who do not have payment capacity,mobile telephones for exclusive use with telephone call fee pre-paymentsystems have been developed by respective mobile telephonemanufacturers.

Conventional pre-payment systems designed for mobile telephones of thiskind for exclusive use with telephone call fee pre-payment systemsrequire the actions of purchasing a card bearing a unique number whichis concealed by a scratchable covering, or the like, confirming theunique number printed on the card by removing the scratchable covering,or the like, and then registering that unique number with a chargingcenter.

Consequently, if the user of a mobile telephone for exclusive use with atelephone call fee pre-payment system seeks to register the telephonewith the charging center, in order to be able to make a telephone callusing the mobile telephone, he or she is required to perform complicatedregistration operations, such as manually inputting a large number ofdigits corresponding to the unique number, and hence human input errorsare liable to occur.

In this way, in a conventional pre-payment system designed for mobilestelephones for exclusive use with telephone call fee pre-paymentsystems, pre-payment of the telephone call fee is made by purchasing acard corresponding to a prescribed telephone call fee, from a cardselling device. Thereupon, in order to be able to make a call using themobile telephone, it is necessary for the user to register the uniquenumber printed on the purchased card with the charging center, byinputting the number manually, and hence there is a problem in that theregistration operation is extremely complicated and input errors areliable to occur.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to resolve theaforementioned problem by provide a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales system and device whereby complicated inputoperations are not required, and input errors can be eliminated, whenregistering a unique number issued after a telephone call fee has beenpaid, with a charging center.

In order to achieve the aforementioned objects, the invention accordingto claim 1 is a telephone call fee payment certificate number salessystem comprising: a pre-paid system mobile telephone terminal; and asales device for selling a telephone call fee payment certificate numbercertifying that a telephone call fee has been paid, by accepting depositof money sufficient to cover a telephone call fee to be pre-paid from auser carrying the mobile telephone terminal; wherein the mobiletelephone terminal comprises: communications means for communicatingwith the sales device; and control means for receiving a telephone callfee payment certificate number sent by the sales device via thecommunications means; and the sales device comprises: money depositprocessing means for processing the depositing of money for a telephonecall fee that is to be pre-paid; communications means for communicatingwith the mobile telephone terminal; and control means for sending thetelephone call fee payment certificate number to the mobile telephoneterminal via the communications means, when the money deposit processinghas been carried out by the money deposit processing means.

The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim1, wherein the sales device comprises: storage means for storing aplurality of telephone call fee payment certificate numbers; and thecontrol means successively reads out the telephone call fee paymentcertificate numbers from the storage means and sends same to the mobiletelephone terminal, when the money deposit processing has been carriedout.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim1, wherein the sales device comprises: means for communicating with acharging center issuing telephone call fee payment certificate numbers;and the control means acquires the telephone call fee paymentcertificate numbers issued by the charging center, via the chargingcenter communications means, and sends same to the mobile telephoneterminal.

The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim1, wherein the communications means of the mobile telephone terminal andthe communications means of the sales device are infrared communicationsmeans performing communications by means of infrared.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim1, wherein the communications means of the mobile telephone terminal andthe communications means of the sales device are short-distance wirelesscommunications means performing communications based on a short-distancewireless communications system.

The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claim1, wherein the communications means of the mobile telephone terminal andthe communications means of the sales device are wired communicationsmeans performing communications based on a wired communications system.

The invention according to claim 7 is a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales device for accepting deposit of moneysufficient to cover a telephone call fee to be pre-paid from a usercarrying a pre-paid system mobile telephone terminal and for selling atelephone call fee payment certificate number certifying that atelephone call fee has been paid; comprising: money deposit processingmeans for processing the depositing of money for a telephone call feethat is to be pre-paid; communications means for communicating with themobile telephone terminal; and control means for sending the telephonecall fee payment certificate number to the mobile telephone terminal viathe communications means, when the money deposit processing has beencarried out by the money deposit processing means.

The invention according to claim 8 is the invention according to claim7, comprising: storage means for storing a plurality of telephone callfee payment certificate numbers; wherein the control means successivelyreads out the telephone call fee payment certificate numbers from thestorage means and sends same to the mobile telephone terminal, when themoney deposit processing has been carried out.

The invention according to claim 9 is the invention according to claim7, further comprising: means for communicating with a charging centerissuing telephone call fee payment certificate numbers; wherein thecontrol means acquires the telephone call fee payment certificatenumbers issued by the charging center, via the charging centercommunications means, and sends same to the mobile telephone terminal.

The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to claim7, wherein the communications means is infrared communications means forperforming communications by means of infrared.

The invention according to claim 11 is the invention according to claim7, wherein the communications means is short-distance wirelesscommunications means for performing communications based on ashort-distance wireless communications system.

The invention according to claim 12 is the invention according to claim7, wherein the communications means is wired communications means forperforming communications based on a wired communications system.

According to the present invention, the sales device sends a telephonecall fee payment certificate number certifying that payment of atelephone call fee has been completed, to the mobile telephone terminalof the user, when it has accepted a process of depositing money for atelephone call fee as performed by a user of a mobile telephone terminalbased on a telephone call fee pre-payment, and hence the user of themobile telephone terminal is able to register the number with a chargingcenter by using a stored information communicating function of themobile telephone terminal where the telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sent by the sales device is stored. Consequently, theuser does not have to input manually a unique number certifying that atelephone call fee has been paid, as in the prior art, and hencecomplicated registration operations can be eliminated and human errorscan be avoided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the composition of a telephone call feepayment certificate number sales system relating to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the sequence of a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales process in the system according to the firstembodiment,

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the composition of a telephone call feepayment certificate number sales system relating to a second embodiment;and

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the sequence of a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales process in the system according to the secondembodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Below, embodiments of the present invention are described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the general composition of a telephone callfee payment certificate number sales system relating to a firstembodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the telephone call fee payment certificate number salessystem is constituted by a telephone call fee pre-payment type mobiletelephone terminal 10 which is carried by a user, and a telephone callfee payment certificate number sales device (hereinafter, abbreviated to“sales device”) 20, which sells telephone call fee payment certificatenumbers (unique numbers) that certify payment of a telephone call fee,when money for a telephone call fee has been received from the usercarrying the mobile telephone terminal 10.

In this system, the mobile telephone terminal 10 is a pre-paid systemtelephone terminal, wherein a telephone call fee is pre-paid, and callscan be made for the time period corresponding to the pre-paid telephonecall fee.

In order to use a telephone call fee pre-payment type mobile telephoneterminal 10 of this kind to make a call for a time period correspondingto the pre-paid telephone call fee, it is necessary not only to pre-paythe telephone call fee, but also to register a unique number certifyingthat the telephone call fee has been pre-paid, with a charging center.

When using a telephone call fee pre-payment type mobile telephoneterminal 10 of this kind, conventionally, it is necessary to carry outthe actions of purchasing a card of a price corresponding to thetelephone call fee and then registering the unique number printed on thecard, with the charging center, by entering the number manually.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, the sales device20 sells a telephone call fee payment certificate number for certifyingthat a telephone call fee has been paid, by means of a communicationsdevice, rather than by means of a card as described above.

More specifically, in the system according to the first embodiment, whenthe user carrying the mobile telephone terminal 10 has completed theprocess of depositing money for the telephone call fee, the sales device20 sends a telephone call fee payment certificate number (unique number)certifying that the payment of the telephone call fee has beencompleted, to the mobile telephone terminal 10 carried by that user, viaa communications device.

More particularly, in the sales device 20 according to the firstembodiment, storage means for storing a plurality of telephone call feepayment certificate numbers are provided, and telephone call fee paymentcertificate numbers are read out sequentially from the storage means andsent to the mobile telephone terminal 10, each time the aforementionedmoney depositing process is completed.

To describe the composition of the system relating to the firstembodiment in more detail, with reference to FIG. 1, the mobiletelephone terminal 10 comprises a controller 11, a radio unit 12, adisplay unit 13, an operating unit 14, and a storage unit 15 (each ofthese units having the same functions and composition as a generalmobile telephone terminal), and in addition to these, it also comprisesa communications unit 16 for communicating with the communications unit23 of the sales device 20.

The communications unit 16 has a communications control function forreceiving a telephone call fee payment certificate number sent by thesales device 20.

The controller 11 performs control for receiving a telephone call feepayment certificate number sent by the communications unit 23 of thesales device 20, at the communications unit 16, and storing the numberin the storage unit 15.

A mobile telephone terminal 10 having this composition may naturally beused as a mobile radio telephone terminal, such as a car telephone, butit is not limited to this and may also be used as a PHS.

On the other hand, the sales device 20 comprises a main controller 21, amoney deposit processing unit 22, a communications unit 23, and astorage unit 24.

The money deposit processing unit 22 is a functional part for receivingthe deposit of money for a pre-paid telephone call fee, and it isconstituted, for example, by a coin processing device for handlingcoins, or a banknote processing device for handling banknotes, or thelike. Apart from this, the money deposit processing unit 22 may also becomposed so as to receive the deposit of money for a pre-paid telephonecall fee, by receiving a pre-paid type card, a credit card, a J.C. coin,or the like.

The money deposit processing unit 22 comprises currency input slots forinputting coins or banknotes, a card input slot for inputting pre-paidtype cards, and the like, and an output opening for outputting change,and it also includes an operating unit, such as a price button, forselecting the price of the pre-paid telephone call fee that can beprocessed (purchased) via the device, and a display unit for displayingvarious information, such as operation and registration advice relatingto the telephone call fee pre-payment system.

The communications unit 23 is a functional part for communicating withthe communications unit 16 of the mobile telephone terminal 10 carriedby the user, and more particularly, in the sales device 20, it has acommunications control function for sending a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number issued when the user has completed the process ofdepositing money, to the communications unit 16 of the mobile telephoneterminal 10.

In specific examples, the communications unit 23 can be realized, forexample, by wired communications means performing wired communicationsby providing a cable and connector (the connection terminal of themobile telephone terminal 10 being connectable to this connectorterminal), by short-distance wireless communications means performingshort-distance wireless communications based on Bluetooth® standards andnon-contact type IC card communications standards, by infraredcommunications means performing communications by means of infrared, orby a combination of a plurality of these communications means.

The communications unit 16 of the mobile telephone terminal 10 whichcommunicates with the communications unit 23 also has a communicationsinterface similar to that of the communications unit 23.

The storage unit 24 comprises, for example, storage means for storing aplurality of telephone call fee payment certificate numbers createdpreviously by the telecommunications operator providing the mobiletelephone service based on pre-paid telephone call fees. Whenever atelephone call fee payment certificate number is purchased, it is erasedfrom the storage unit 24. By mean of this processing, when the telephonecall fee payment certificate numbers in the storage unit 24 have run out(or they have reached a prescribed number or below), then thetelecommunications operator can create new telephone call fee paymentcertificate numbers, and replenish the storage unit 24 with thesenumbers, by means of an external device, such as a maintenance terminal,or the like.

The main controller 21 controls the various parts, such as the moneydeposit processing unit 22, the communications unit 23 and the storageunit 24, and performs control relating to the sale of telephone call feepayment certificate numbers.

More specifically, for example, if the user deposits money into themoney deposit processing unit 22, by means of currency, a pre-paid card,or the like, and then presses a price button corresponding to a desiredpre-paid telephone call fee, then money deposit processing is conductedfor recognizing that pre-payment has been made for a telephone call feecorresponding to the total of money deposited at that time, andfurthermore, control is performed for reading out a telephone call feepayment certificate number certifying that the telephone call feecorresponding to the aforementioned price has been paid, from thestorage unit 24, and sending that telephone call fee payment certificatenumber to the mobile telephone terminal 10, by means of thecommunications unit 23.

On the other hand, in the mobile telephone terminal 10 carried by theuser, under the control of the controller 11, operations are performedwhereby the telephone call fee payment certificate number sent from thecommunications unit 23 of the sales device 20 is received by thecommunications unit 16, and the received telephone call fee paymentcertificate number is stored in the storage unit 15.

Next, the telephone call fee payment certificate number sales processingoperation relating to the first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the sequence of a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales process in a system according to the firstembodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the mobile telephone terminal 10 is to purchasea telephone call fee payment certificate number, firstly, the userperforms an operation for switching the communications unit 16 to ON, bymeans of the operating section 14 of the mobile telephone terminal 10.

By switching the communications unit on in this way, the controller 11of the mobile telephone terminal 10 sets the communications unit 16 toan ON state.

Next, the user performs an operation (a money depositing operation) inwhich he or she inserts money sufficient to cover a desired pre-paidtelephone call fee, into the currency input slot of the money depositprocessing unit 22 of the sales device 20, or inserts a pre-paid typecard, or the like, in a card insertion slot of the money depositprocessing unit 22, whereupon the user performs an operation ofselecting a desired pre-paid telephone call fee (a telephone call feeselection operation).

In this case, the main controller 21 of the sales device 20 causes, forexample, the price buttons corresponding to telephone call fees equal toor less than the amount of money that has been deposited into the moneydeposit processing unit 22 to light up. The user carries out theaforementioned telephone call fee selection operation by pressing theprice button corresponding to the desired pre-paid telephone call fee,of the price buttons that are lit up.

When the telephone call fee selection operation has been performed (whenthe price button has been pressed), the main controller 21 of the salesdevice 20 carries out processing (money deposit processing) forrecognizing information (money deposit information) indicating theamount of money that has been deposited into the money depositprocessing unit 22 at the time that the price button is pressed, and itthen starts telephone call fee payment certificate number salesprocessing based on the money deposit information thus processed.

In this telephone call fee payment certificate number sales processing,the main controller 21 of the sales device 20 firstly sends acommunications start request from the communications unit 23 to themobile telephone terminal 10 carried by the user.

Thereupon, the main controller 21 monitors whether or not acommunications start response has been received from the mobiletelephone terminal 10 by the communications unit 23, and if acommunications start response has been received, then it reads out onetelephone call fee payment certificate number from the storage unit 24and sends the telephone call fee payment certificate number thus readout to the mobile telephone terminal 10 by means of the communicationsunit 23.

Furthermore, in this case, the main controller 21 carries out processingfor erasing the telephone call fee payment certificate number sent onthis occasion, from the storage unit 24.

When transmission of the aforementioned telephone call fee paymentcertificate number has been completed, the main controller 21 then sendsa disconnection request to the mobile telephone terminal 10 by means ofthe communications unit 23, whereupon, if a disconnection response isreceived from the mobile telephone terminal 10 via the communicationsunit 23, then the main controller 21 disconnects the communication andends the telephone call fee payment certificate number sales processingsequence.

During the telephone call fee payment certificate number sales processin the sales device 20 described above, the controller 11 of the mobiletelephone terminal 10 situated in front of the sales device 20 monitorswhether or not a communications start request has been received from thesales device 20 via the communications unit 16, and if a communicationsstart request has been received, then a communications start response issent to the sales device 20, via the communications unit 16.

Thereupon, when a telephone call fee payment certificate number sent bythe sales device 20 is received by the communications unit 16, thecontroller 11 notifies the user by displaying the fact that a telephonecall fee payment certificate number has been received, on the displayunit 13, and it also stores the telephone call fee payment certificatenumber thus received in the storage unit 15.

Thereupon, if a disconnection request sent by the sales device 20 isreceived by the communications unit 16, then the controller 11 sends adisconnection response to the sales device 20 via the communicationsunit 16, disconnects the communication, and terminates the processingsequence.

In this way, in the system relating to the first embodiment, a pluralityof telephone call fee payment certificate numbers are stored in thesales device 20, and when a money depositing processing for a telephonecall fee carried out by the user of a mobile telephone terminal 10 hasbeen accepted, then one of the plurality of stored telephone call feepayment certificate numbers is read out and sent to the mobile telephoneterminal 10 carried by the user.

In this case, the telephone call fee payment certificate number sent bythe sales device 20 is received by the communications unit 16 of themobile telephone terminal 10 situated in front of the sales device 20and it is stored in the storage unit 15.

Here, a telephone call fee payment certificate number is a unique numbercorresponding to the value of the telephone call fee that has been paid,similarly to a number printed on a card issued when a telephone call feehas been pre-paid in a conventional payment system.

When the unique number (telephone call fee payment certificate number)corresponding to the value of the telephone call fee is registered in acharging center device, in the conventional system, it is necessary toregister the number by means of manual operations, but in the case ofthe mobile telephone terminal 10 according to the present embodimentwhich stores a telephone call fee payment certificate numbercorresponding to the unique number in a storage unit 15, the number isregistered with the charging center by using a stored informationtransmitting function whereby the telephone calls up the chargingcenter, establishes a connection and then reads out the telephone callfee payment certificate number from the storage unit 15 and transmits itto the charging center.

Therefore, in the system according to the present embodiment, when theuser wishes to register a number with the charging center in order thathe or she can use the mobile telephone terminal 10, the user is notrequired to input manually the unique number certifying payment of thetelephone call fee, after paying the telephone call fee, and hencecomplicated registration operations are eliminated and human errors canbe avoided.

Furthermore, since this system sells telephone call fee paymentcertificate numbers corresponding to payment of telephone call fees, bymeans of a communications device, the telecommunications operatorproviding a mobile telephone service based on pre-paid telephone callfees is not required to issue cards and hence the operator can save thecosts associated with selling cards.

Moreover, installing a large number of sales devices 20 of this kindwhich provide good usability for registration operations, over a broadarea, can be expected to have the effect of increasing the popularity ofmobile telephone terminals based on telephone call fee pre-paymentsystems.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the general composition of a telephone callfee payment certificate number sales system relating to a secondembodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, the telephone call fee payment certificate number salessystem is constituted by a telephone call fee pre-payment type mobiletelephone terminal 10 which is carried by a user, and a telephone callfee payment certificate number sales device (hereinafter, abbreviated to“sales device”) 20A, which sells telephone call fee payment certificatenumbers (unique numbers) that certify payment of a telephone call fee,when money for a telephone call fee has been received from the usercarrying the mobile telephone terminal 10, and a telephone call feecharging center device (hereinafter, abbreviated to “charging centerdevice”) 40, connected to the sales device 20A via a public line 30,which processes payment of telephone call fees, issues a telephone callfee payment certificate number in response to a request from the salesdevice 20A, and sends the telephone call fee payment certificate numberto the sales device 20A.

In the system relating to the second embodiment, the mobile telephoneterminal 10 has similar functions to those of the mobile telephoneterminal 10 relating to the first embodiment.

Furthermore, the sales device 20A is also similar to the sales device 20relating to the first embodiment in that it sells a telephone call feepayment certificate number certifying that a telephone call feecorresponding to a particular value has been paid (by sending thetelephone call fee payment certificate number to the mobile telephoneterminal 10 carried by the user by means of a communications device),when a money depositing process for a telephone call fee required inorder to register the mobile telephone terminal 10 so that it ispermitted to make calls has been performed by the user carrying themobile telephone terminal 10 and accepted by the sales device 20A.

However the sales device 20A differs from the sales device 20 relatingto the first embodiment in that, after accepting the aforementionedmoney depositing process, it accesses the charging center device 40 viathe public line 30, acquires a telephone call fee payment certificatenumber issued by the charging center device 40, and sends that telephonecall fee payment certificate number to the mobile telephone terminal 10.

Describing this composition is more detail with reference to FIG. 3, thesales device 20A comprises a main controller 21, a money depositprocessing unit 22, a first communications unit 25, and a secondcommunications unit 26.

Here, the money deposit processing unit 22 has the same functions andcomposition as the corresponding portion of the sales device 20 relatingto the first embodiment, and the first communications unit 25 has thesame functions and composition as the communications unit 23 of thesales device 20 relating to the first embodiment.

Furthermore, the second communications unit 26 communicates with thecharging center device 40 via the public line 30, and in particular, ithas a communications control function for acquiring a telephone call feepayment certificate number issued by the charging center device 40, fromthe charging center device 40.

Moreover, the main controller 21 controls the respective sections, suchas the money deposit processing unit 22, the first communications unit25 and the second communications unit 26, and thus controls the sale oftelephone call fee payment certificate numbers.

More specifically, for example, if the user deposits money into themoney deposit processing unit 22, by means of currency, a pre-paid card,or the like, and then presses a price button corresponding to a desiredpre-paid telephone call fee, then money deposit processing is conductedfor recognizing that pre-payment has been made for a telephone call feecorresponding to the total of money deposited at that time, andfurthermore, the main controller 21 performs control for requestingissue of a telephone call fee payment certificate number from thecharging center device 40, by means of the second communications unit26, when the price button is pressed, receiving a telephone call feepayment certificate number issued by the charging center device 40 inresponse to this request by means of the second communications unit 26,and sending this telephone call fee payment certificate number to themobile telephone terminal 10 by means of the first communications unit25.

Furthermore, the charging center device 40 is a computer installed bythe communications operator providing a mobile telephone service basedon pre-paid telephone call fees, and it comprises a communications unit41 having a communications control function for sending and receivingvarious information between the sales device 20A and the secondcommunications unit 26 (information such as a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number issue request, a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number, and the like), in response to the controlimplemented by the sales device 20A described above, a certificationnumber issuing section 42 for issuing a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number in response to a request, and a control section 43for controlling these respective sections.

Next, the telephone call fee payment certificate number sales processingoperation relating to the second embodiment will be described.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the sequence of a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales process in a system according to the secondembodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the mobile telephone terminal 10 is to purchasea telephone call fee payment certificate number, firstly, the userperforms an operation for switching the communications unit 16 to ON, bymeans of the operating section 14 of the mobile telephone terminal 10.

By switching the communications unit on in this way, the controller 11of the mobile telephone terminal 10 sets the communications unit 16 toan ON state.

Next, the user performs an operation (a money depositing operation) inwhich he or she inserts money sufficient to cover a desired pre-paidtelephone call fee, into the currency input slot of the money depositprocessing unit 22 of the sales device 20A, or inserts a pre-paid typecard, or the like, in a card insertion slot of the money depositprocessing unit 22, whereupon the user performs an operation ofselecting a desired pre-paid telephone call fee (a telephone call feeselection operation).

In this case, the main controller 21 of the sales device 20A causes, forexample, the price buttons corresponding to telephone call fees equal toor less than the amount of money that has been deposited into the moneydeposit processing unit 22 to light up. The user carries out theaforementioned telephone call fee selection operation by pressing theprice button corresponding to the desired pre-paid telephone call fee,of the price buttons that are lit up.

When the telephone call fee selection operation has been performed (whenthe price button has been pressed), the main controller 21 of the salesdevice 20A carries out processing (money deposit processing) forrecognizing information (money deposit information) indicating theamount of money that has been deposited into the money depositprocessing unit 22 at the time that the price button is pressed, and itthen starts telephone call fee payment certificate number salesprocessing based on the money deposit information thus processed.

In this telephone call fee payment certificate number sales process, themain controller 21 of the sales device 20A firstly sends a telephonecall fee payment certificate number issue request to the charging centerdevice 40, via the second communications unit 26.

Upon receiving this telephone call fee payment certificate number issuerequest via the public line 30, the charging center device 40 performstelephone call fee payment certificate number issue processing. Thistelephone call fee payment certificate number issue processing isdescribed in detail below.

After transmitting a telephone call fee payment certificate number issuerequest, the main controller 21 of the sales device 20A monitors whetheror not a telephone call fee payment certificate number has been receivedfrom the charging center device 40 via the second communications unit26, and if a telephone call fee payment certificate number has beenreceived, then it stores that number provisionally in the storage unitof its internal control unit, for example (acquisition of telephone callfee payment certificate number).

Thereupon, the main controller 21 sends a communications start requestto the mobile telephone terminal 10 carried by the user, by means of thefirst communications unit 25.

Thereupon, the main controller 21 monitors whether or not acommunications start response has been received from the mobiletelephone terminal 10 by the first communications unit 25, and if acommunications start response has been received, then it reads out onetelephone call fee payment certificate number stored previously andsends that telephone call fee payment certificate number to the mobiletelephone terminal 10 by means of the first communications unit 25.

When transmission of the aforementioned telephone call fee paymentcertificate number has been completed, the main controller 21 then sendsa disconnection request to the mobile telephone terminal 10 by means ofthe first communications unit 25, whereupon, if a disconnection responseis received from the mobile telephone terminal 10 via the firstcommunications unit 25, then the main controller 21 disconnects thecommunication and ends the telephone call fee payment certificate numbersales processing sequence.

During the telephone call fee payment certificate number sales processin the sales device 20A described above, the controller 11 of the mobiletelephone terminal 10 situated in front of the sales device 20A monitorswhether or not a communications start request has been received from thesales device 20A via the communications unit 16, and if a communicationsstart request has been received, then a communications start response issent to the sales device 20A, via the communications unit 16.

Thereupon, when a telephone call fee payment certificate number sent bythe sales device 20A is received by the communications unit 16, thecontroller 11 notifies the user by displaying the fact that a telephonecall fee payment certificate number has been received, on the displayunit 13, and it also stores the telephone call fee payment certificatenumber thus received in the storage unit 15.

Thereupon, if a disconnection request sent by the sales device 20A isreceived by the communications unit 16, then the controller 11 sends adisconnection response to the sales device 20A via the communicationsunit 16, disconnects the communication, and terminates the processingsequence.

Furthermore, in the telephone call fee payment certificate number salesprocess in the aforementioned sales device 20A, if the charging centerdevice 40 receives the aforementioned telephone call fee paymentcertificate number issue request sent by the second communications unit26 of the sales device 20A, by means of the communications unit 41, thenthe communications unit 43 starts up a certificate number issuingsection 42 and issues one telephone call fee payment certificate number(telephone call fee payment certificate number issue process).

Thereupon, the control section 43 sends the telephone call fee paymentcertificate number issued by the certificate number issuing section 42to the sales device 20A, via the communications unit 41.

In this way, in the system relating to the second embodiment, when amoney depositing process for a telephone call fee performed by the userof a mobile telephone terminal 10 is accepted by the sales device 20A,then the sales device 20A accesses the charging center device 40,acquires a telephone call fee payment certificate number issued by thecharging center device 40, and sends that telephone call fee paymentcertificate number to the mobile telephone terminal 10 carried by theuser.

In the composition of the present embodiment, it is also possible forthe mobile telephone terminal 10 situated in front of the sales device20A to receive a telephone call fee payment certificate number sent bythe sales device 20A, by means of the communications unit 16, and tostore that number in the storage unit 15.

Therefore, similarly to the first embodiment, the user of the mobiletelephone terminal 10 is able to register with the charging centerdevice 40, simply by performing an operation for calling the chargingcenter device 40 from the mobile telephone terminal 10, establishing aconnection, and then reading out a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number from the storage unit 15 and transmitting thatnumber. Therefore, the user is not required to input manually a uniquenumber certifying that a telephone call fee has been paid, as in theprior art, and hence complicated registration operations can beeliminated and human errors can be avoided.

Moreover, in the present embodiment also, the telecommunicationsoperator providing a mobile telephone service based on pre-paidtelephone call fees does not have to issue cards and hence can save thecosts associated with selling cards. Furthermore, by installing a largenumber of sales devices 20A of this kind which provide good usabilityfor registration operations, over a broad area, the operator can expectto obtain a similar effect to that of the first embodiment, namely, thatof increasing the popularity of mobile telephone terminals based ontelephone call fee pre-payment systems.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described aboveand illustrated in the drawings, and the invention may be implemented insuitably modified form, provided that the essence of the invention isnot changed.

For example, in the embodiments described above, it is a prerequisitethat the communications unit 16 of the mobile telephone terminal 10 isin a switched on state when a communications start request is sent fromthe registration device 20, 20A to the mobile telephone terminal 10,upon completion of the money depositing operation and telephone call feeselection operation by the user at the sales device 20, 20A, but theinvention is not limited to this and, for example, an operation forswitching on the communications unit 16 of the mobile telephone terminal10 may be prompted to the user, by displaying guidance advisingswitching on of the communications unit 16 of the mobile telephoneterminal 10, on the display unit (not illustrated) of the sales device20, 20A, in cases where the communications unit 16 of the mobiletelephone terminal 10 is in a switched off state when the aforementionedcommunications start request is sent.

Moreover, in the respective embodiments described above, the telephonecall fee payment certificate number sales device is installed in asolitary fashion, but it is also possible to install the sales device asa combined device incorporated with a drink vending machine, or thelike, for example.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

When a money depositing process for a telephone call fee performed by auser of a pre-paid system mobile telephone terminal is accepted by thesales device, a telephone call fee payment certificate number certifyingthat payment of the telephone call fee has been completed is sent to themobile telephone terminal of the user. Therefore, this invention is ableto provide a telephone call fee payment certificate number sales systemand device whereby complicated input operations are not required andhence input errors can be eliminated, when registering a unique numberissued in response to payment of a telephone call fee, with a chargingcenter.

1. A telephone call fee payment certificate number sales systemcomprising: a pre-paid system mobile telephone terminal; and a salesdevice for selling a telephone call fee payment certificate numbercertifying that a telephone call fee has been paid, by accepting depositof money sufficient to cover a telephone call fee to be pre-paid from auser carrying the mobile telephone terminal; wherein the mobiletelephone terminal comprises: communications means for communicatingwith the sales device; and control means for receiving a telephone callfee payment certificate number sent by the sales device via thecommunications means; and the sales device comprises: money depositprocessing means for processing the depositing of money for a telephonecall fee that is to be pre-paid; communications means for communicatingwith the mobile telephone terminal; and control means for sending thetelephone call fee payment certificate number to the mobile telephoneterminal via the communications means, when the money deposit processinghas been carried out by the money deposit processing means.
 2. Thetelephone call fee payment certificate number sales system according toclaim 1, wherein the sales device comprises: storage means for storing aplurality of telephone call fee payment certificate numbers; and thecontrol means successively reads out the telephone call fee paymentcertificate numbers from the storage means and sends same to the mobiletelephone terminal, when the money deposit processing has been carriedout.
 3. The telephone call fee payment certificate number sales systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the sales device further comprises:charging center communications means for communicating with a chargingcenter issuing telephone call fee payment certificate numbers; and thecontrol means acquires the telephone call fee payment certificatenumbers issued by the charging center, via the charging centercommunications means, and sends same to the mobile telephone terminal.4. The telephone call fee payment certificate number sales systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the communications means of the mobiletelephone terminal and the communications means of the sales device areinfrared communications means performing communications by means ofinfrared.
 5. The telephone call fee payment certificate number salessystem according to claim 1, wherein the communications means of themobile telephone terminal and the communications means of the salesdevice are short-distance wireless communications means performingcommunications based on a short-distance wireless communications system.6. The telephone call fee payment certificate number sales systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the communications means of the mobiletelephone terminal and the communications means of the sales device arewired communications means performing communications based on a wiredcommunications system.
 7. A telephone call fee payment certificatenumber sales device for accepting deposit of money sufficient to cover atelephone call fee to be pre-paid from a user carrying a pre-paid systemmobile telephone terminal and for selling a telephone call fee paymentcertificate number certifying that a telephone call fee has been paid;comprising: money deposit processing means for processing the depositingof money for a telephone call fee that is to be pre-paid; communicationsmeans for communicating with the mobile telephone terminal; and controlmeans for sending the telephone call fee payment certificate number tothe mobile telephone terminal via the communications means, when themoney deposit processing has been carried out by the money depositprocessing means.
 8. The telephone call fee payment certificate numbersales device according to claim 7, comprising: storage means for storinga plurality of telephone call fee payment certificate numbers; whereinthe control means successively reads out the telephone call fee paymentcertificate numbers from the storage means and sends same to the mobiletelephone terminal, when the money deposit processing has been carriedout.
 9. The telephone call fee payment certificate number sales deviceaccording to claim 7, further comprising: charging center communicationsmeans for communicating with a charging center issuing telephone callfee payment certificate numbers; wherein the control means acquires thetelephone call fee payment certificate numbers issued by the chargingcenter, via the charging center communications means, and sends same tothe mobile telephone terminal.
 10. The telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales device according to claim 7, wherein thecommunications means is infrared communications means for performingcommunications by means of infrared.
 11. The telephone call fee paymentcertificate number sales device according to claim 7, wherein thecommunications means is short-distance wireless communications means forperforming communications based on a short-distance wirelesscommunications system.
 12. The telephone call fee payment certificatenumber sales device according to claim 7, wherein the communicationsmeans is wired communications means for performing communications basedon a wired communications system.